Forever
by Lady Violet Fire
Summary: Me? I am one hundred and fifty seven years old, Will, and indisputably alone. And you? You are dead and gone. Forever.


And here you have it… a story I wrote and edited in utterly boring French class.

ONWARD!

William Herondale: B. 1861. D. 1909.

James Carstairs: B. 1861 D. 1891

Jessamine Lovelace: B. 1861. D. 1879

Charlotte Branwell: B. 1858. D. 1901

Diana Branwell: B. 1879. D. 1879

Some very foolish mortals believe that immortality was a gift. That it was something to be attained, coveted. Others would go so far to say it was a prize. Tessa hadn't thought much about life and death for sixteen years of her life. She had brushed aside thoughts of life everlasting, unable to imagine such an existence.

She knew better now.

Tessa envied the mortals. Their lives burned so bright, and their souls glowed. Mundanes lived seventy, perhaps eighty years, and Shadowhunters even less. In that lifetime, they were free to give all they had to another person.

Tessa didn't have that freedom.

_Until death do us part. _It was so easy to say those words to say those words when death was certain. When you were sure that someday, you could lay down to rest.

_Why did you leave, Will? You promised that you would never break my heart again. You lied. _

Jem's death had ripped a hole in Tessa's heart that would never truly heal. It was three months before Will would begin speaking to anyone. She could never look at a violin without remembering a certain quiet, silver-haired boy. His jade pendant still hung from a thin string round her neck, along with the pouch of _yin fen _that she never looked at. _I can offer you my life, but it is a short life; I can offer you my heart, though I have no idea how many more beats it shall sustain. _How right he had been. How much she wished he hadn't been.

_Did you see Jem again? Did he smile like he used to, before the last day?_

Charlotte… She had been smiling on her deathbed, looking forward to seeing her daughter again. On that day, Tessa had lost more than simply a friend. A confidante, the stability that Institute had lacked when she was gone. Will had gone into a blind rage after that, slaughtering the demon that had mercilessly taken Charlotte's life.

_What does Charlotte's child look like? It's easy to imagine Henry in his laboratory, causing explosions. But that doesn't happen anymore, because he's gone. _

Jessamine… No one really remembered the pretty, fair-haired girl, aside fom Tessa herself. She had passed away quietly of grief in the Silent City, clutching Tessa's fingers like a lifeline. _I'm afraid, Tessa. Afraid of what's on the other side._

_Tell Jessamine that I'm sorry. I hadn't wanted it to end that way. _

Tessa sighed as she ran her fingers over the smooth golden plaque that marked Will as a hero of the Clockwork War. That had been the last battle Tessa had participated in. And what a price they had paid for victory. Had it really been one hundered years since Will had passed on from this world to the next? One hundred years since she last saw his smile, heard his voice? It seemed like only yesterday that he had been tracing runes on his own arms, kissing her gooodbye as he walked out the of the Institute to kill a minor demon.

He hadn't come back.

_I'm alone now, Will. After you left, there was no one, not even Magnus is the same. _

Tessa had wisely stayed out of the Uprising, choosing instead to livein a remote part of Alaksa, where she hoped that none would be able to find her. The Clave would have undoubtably wanted to use her power in the war against Valentine, as a powerful weapon.

_I didn't want to be part of a battle again. The world isn't worth fighting for without you there. _

There was a new Herondale boy now. Jonthan Herondale, Stephan's son. Jace, as everyone called him. Cecily would have been proud of her great-great-grandson. There was somehing about him that echoed of a violet-eyed boy with a head of raven hair, his sarcastic wit and tendency to throw himself into battle, not caring whether he lived or died. She had watched hm grow up in the Wayland manor. She had know, when no one else did, who the boy really was, who his father really was. He was almost the son she never had, never could have.

_You would have loved him like a son, just like me. _

Imogen had been the last Herondale to be aware of her existence. After that, she had simply vanished from the eyes of all, choosing to watch from the sidelines as Shadowhunters fought to protect the world.

_So many died. Just like last time. _

She had seen Magnus only twice in the past two decades. Once for the Morgenstern girl's protection ceremony, fifteen years ago, and then once again, in Alicante after Valentine was defeated for the second time. They didn't converse much. It was the memory of Will that kept them together, the two people who knew Will the best that were still alive. Tessa knew that he was the High Warlock of Brooklyn currently, in a relationship with a Shadowhunter. She had visited more often in the past, always in a different form.

_I don't really know who I am, without you. What difference does it make, what face I wear?_

So much had changed in the past century. The naïve, smiling girl that she had once been had vanshed somewhere in the passing years, never to be seen again. In her place was an aloof, serious-eyed woman who had seen more that her share of deaths.

_The world is different from one hundred years ago. So am I. _

She turned to look at Magnus Bane, standing behind her, an indescribable expression on his face. Wordlessly, she walked away from the plaque. A hooded Silent Brother guided them through the twisting halls of Silent City. They exited into the graveyard that held the entrance to the Silent City.

_Me? I am one hundred and fifty seven years old, Will, and indisputably alone._

_And you? You are dead and gone. _

_Forever. _

R&R? Please? I will give you cheesecake you do….

-Lady of the Fires that are Violet


End file.
